5 Survival AU
by Iamthe13thDoctor
Summary: Rewrite of the final story of the Classic Series. 5th story featuring my OC, Nita. The Doctor and Nita bring Ace back home to Perivale in west London. The suburb is not as it should be: a mysterious black cat is wandering around, somehow creating a situation in which humans are hunted down and made to disappear to another dimension. I don't own Doctor Who.
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter One**_

 **22nd November, 1989,** **Colwyn Avenue,** **Perivale, London, England, Earth.**

A man is washing his car in the road whilst a black cat with piercing yellow eyes watches from atop a brick wall. His mother calls out from the terraced house. "Dave, your dinner's on the table!"

"All right, Mum!"

The black cat hisses. A wind starts to blow. Dave turns around and looks up then begins to run down the avenue, still clutching the soapy sponge and looking over his shoulder, until he trips over his own feet. "No!"

Flash! and the avenue is empty. His mother comes out of the house. "Dave?"

The cat leaps off a car parked on the drive at the end of the avenue and runs away just as the TARDIS materialises on the corner with Bleasdale Avenue. The door opens.

"You had to pick a Sunday, didn't you?" Ace complains. "You bring me back to the boredom capital of the universe, you pick the one day of the week you can't even get a decent television programme."

"As I recall, Ace, we came here at your request," replies the Doctor.

"I just said I wondered what the old gang was up to, that's all. You didn't have to bring us here. You could have dropped me up in town. I could have phoned. I just wanted to see what my old mates were up to. You didn't have to have the guided tour."

The Doctor picks up the bucket that once contained soapy water and raises his hat to Dave's mother.

"Come on, Professor." Ace begins trudging along Horsenden Lane.

"So what's so terrible about Perivale?" asks Nita, following her.

"Nothing ever happens here."

In someone's back garden, there is a lot of mewing and shaking of plants. A prim middle-aged lady in horn-rimmed spectacles and blue suit opens her window. "Wretched cats! Get out of my garden! Go on, out! Out! Shoo! Shoo!" The black cat flees.

The Doctor, Nita and Ace reach the top of Horsenden Hill, a large open space overlooking the whole area.

"This used to be a hill fort," remarks the Doctor.

"How long since I was here?" Ace asks.

"You've been away as long as you think you have," replies the Doctor.

"I feel like I've been away forever."

"Any particular reason for coming here?" asks Nita.

"It's Sunday," Ace replies. "Some of the gang always comes up here on a Sunday."

"What for?" asks the Doctor.

"Oh, I don't know," Ace replies. "Light a fire, muck about, you know."

The Doctor yawns.

"Well, I told you it was dull," Ace says. "You don't have to hang around here. I'll meet you back at the TARDIS if you want."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll find something to interest me," says the Doctor.

"Maybe they don't come up here anymore," Ace says. "There's no one around, is there? Nothing but tin cans and stray cats."

The Doctor sniffs a tin can, then examines a print in a muddy area. "And horses."

"Horses? In Perivale?" Ace scoffs. "Don't be stupid."

A little way away, four boys are playing catch with a rugby ball. The black cat sits and watches from the hedge line.

The Doctor and Nita are by the notice board when the boys run off home with their ball. Ace has been using the public telephone box.

"No one home," Ace complains. "Are you really fed up?"

"Mmm," Nita replies.

"Do you mind if I just try down to the youth club?" Ace asks.

"Mmm," replies the Doctor.

The trio make their way back down Horsenden Lane, across the bridge, to the youth club, which is empty.

"Where is everyone?" Ace cries. "Look at this." She taps the notice board, which has been put up over the closed sliding window of a servery. "We used to have the coffee bar here. What's happened to the coffee bar? I mean, it always was a dump, but at least you could meet people. Where is everyone?"

The Doctor opens a door to reveal a gym. Lots of punch bags and floor mats, and boxing match posters around the wall. A moustachioed Army type is supervising a pair of lads wrestling.

"Girls?" the Doctor beckons them over to the doorway and they look inside. One boy has the other in a painful arm lock.

"Come on, lift his arm!" urges one of the boys standing around watching them.

"Well, go on. Go on, lad," urges their supervisor, in a Scottish accent. "What are you waiting for?" 

"I've beat him, Sarge!" objected the boy who was on top.

"Oh, you think we're playing games, do you? Let's pretend, eh? Is that it? Is that what you're going to do to help some villain, some mugger? Help him up, dust him down, shake hands? Go on!" mocks the Sarge.

The other boy gets slammed to the mat.

"That's better. That's it," The Sarge praises the boy who won, then checks on the defeated boy, who is still lying on the floor. "You all right, son?"

"Yes, Sarge," replies the second boy.

"You sure? On your feet, then. You okay?"

"Yeah," says the boy, getting to his feet and rubbing his face.

"Right, you go get cleaned up." He notices the Doctor. "I'll be with you in a minute." He turns back to the boys. "Okay, lads, shake hands and we'll see you next week, okay? Bye now."

The boy who won comes up to the Sarge.

"What?" asks the Sarge.

"I'd already beat him, Sarge!"

"Oh, you think I'm too hard, do you? Pushing you too hard, am I? Have you ever heard of survival of the fittest, son, eh? Have you ever heard of that? Life's not a game, son. I mean, I'm teaching you the art of survival. I'm teaching you to fight back. What happens when life starts pushing you around, son, eh? What're you going to do then?"

Paterson's jabbing finger finally provokes the lad into swinging a clenched fist at him. The Sergeant grabs his arm easily. "That's better. You all right now, eh? You all right?"

"All right, Sarge."

"Good. Off you go, then."

All the boys leave.

"Survival of the fittest," remarks the Doctor. "Rather a glib generalisation, don't you think? Survival for what, Mister er?"

"Sergeant Paterson. You show me a better way of surviving, and I'll give it a go."

"Where's everyone else?" Ace asks.

"Who you looking for, luv?"

The Doctor walks out of the gym. Nita follows him.

"Everyone!" Ace cries. "Everyone used to hang around here on Sundays. This was the only place you could get out of the house and out of the weather."

"No, it's self-defence every Sunday afternoon now."

The Doctor stops by a poster for the musical Cats, and thinks.

"I don't know what happened to the waste," Patterson says, still in the gymnasium. He looks closely at Ace. "Don't I know you from somewhere?"

"I don't think so," Ace looks away uneasily.

"Oh, that's right," Patterson says, remembering where he's seen Ace before. "The police let you off with a warning, didn't they? You were lucky."

"Listen, I'm just looking for my friends, okay?"

"I don't think you'll have much luck, then."

The Doctor and Nita see the black cat sitting outside the entrance. It hisses at him.

Paterson and Ace walk out of the gym.

"I think you'll find most of your crowd have moved on."

"Moved on to where?"

"Well, I think you'd have a better idea of that than me, luv, eh? Where've you been hiding yourself?"

"Around."

"Your mum had you listed as a missing person. You don't give a toss, do you? I dunno. Four kids gone missing just this month. Vanished into thin air. It's the parents I feel sorry for. Doesn't cost much to phone, luv. Ten pence, that's all."

"Come on, Doctor." Ace leaves.

"I wouldn't be that age again if you paid me, would you?" Patterson asks the Doctor.

"I can't remember. It's too long ago."

They all walk outside the Youth club. The black cat disappears around the corner.

"What a world to be young again in, eh?" Patterson says. "I reckon the only thing you can do is teach them to fight. That way, they'll fight or go under. Half of them go under anyway around here. Can't save 'em. Wasters."

Paterson unpadlocks his bicycle.

"Tell me Sergeant, do you have a problem with strays?" asks the Doctor.

"Stray what?"

"Cats."

"I wouldn't know. It's hardly a priority around here."

"Come on, Doctor!" Ace says, walking away.

"Doctor, eh? You're not in the best of shape yourself though, are you? You want to build yourself up. You know, I give a class down here Monday nights for the older men."

"I've got to see a man about a cat."

"Remember, keep fit and self-defence. One finger can be a deadly weapon!"

The trio make their way down Horsenden Lane, past Perivale Industrial Estate and Ealing Sports Ground, to Medway Parade, where there are some shops. The Gazette poster outside of Medway News proclaims "Local Woman Still Missing Police Abandon Hope". Nita, Ace and the Doctor walk down the row of shops.

"Still looks the same. Dead," Ace says. "We were the only life there ever was around here."

They come to the Drayton Court pub. "I should have tried in here first, right? I wasn't thinking. Back in a sec." Ace goes inside the pub.

The Doctor and Nita enter the general store, which is under new management. The the shopkeeper and his assistant are working in the store.

"Take this Sunday opening? Do you think I wanna do it?" asks the shopkeeper.

"Do you think I wanna do it?" asks the moustached assistant. "Do you think I want to give up my one day of rest to come in here and stand behind a cash register?"

"Standing behind a till all day can do your back in. I saw something about that on the news the other night."

"Yeah. Law of the jungle, though, right?"

"Yeah. Survival of the fittest, mate."

"I mean, all these other shops are open, aren't they? Where'd you think we'd be if we didn't join in?"

"Down the plughole. Down the plughole without a paddle, mate." The shopkeeper notices the Doctor and Nita. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," says the Doctor, looking at cat food. "Which do you think they'd prefer?"

"What?"

"Well, these brands. Which one do you think our feline friends will find particularly irresistible?"

"Well, if you believe the advertisers, this is the one preferred by your cat connoisseur," replies the shopkeeper. He hands the Doctor two cans of Furry cat food.

"And that one has a taste all cat owners, who really care, put in the dish," says the assistant, handing Nita a can of Feline food.

"Whereas these ones have the smell that drives a tabby cat wild."

"No, no, no. That's an aftershave ad."

"Is it?"

"Or is it for cars?"

"All I know is, my Tiger prefers cheese."

"Cheese!" cries the Doctor. "Ah, yes." The Doctor and Nita wander off to the dairy section.

"It's the law of the jungle now, mate, innit?" says the shopkeeper.

"Hmm. There are these two blokes, right? In a tent, in the jungle," says the assistant.

"You got another one for me, ain't you? Go on, then, go on."

"It's really dark, and they hear this terrible noise outside the tent. This terrible roaring noise. And one bloke turns to the other bloke and he says, do you hear that?"

"What?"

"I said, did you hear that?"

"Oh, right, yeah."

"That was a lion."

The Doctor and Nita start to pay attention to the anecdote.

"And the other bloke, he doesn't say anything. He just starts putting on his running shoes. And the other bloke turns to him and says, what are you doing? You can't outrun a lion. The bloke turns to him and says, I don't have to outrun the lion."

The shopkeeper gives a feeble laugh. "Don't get it."

"He doesn't have to outrun the lion, only his friend," says the Doctor.

"Then the lion catches up with his friend and eats him," says Nita.

"The strong survive, the weak are killed. The law of the jungle," says the Doctor.

"Oh yeah. Very clever," says the shopkeeper.

"Yes, very clever, if you don't mind losing your friend," says the Doctor. "But what happens when the next lion turns up?"

The cat is watching the Doctor.

"What next lion?" asks the assistant.

The black cat burst out from behind the shelf of cat food and runs out of the shop.

"I think you'd better get your running shoes on, gentlemen," says the Doctor.

Ace is waiting at a table outside Drayton Court pub. The Doctor and Nita walk outside with armfuls of cat food.

"Ah..Doctor?" says Nita, looking between him and the shop doorway.

"Did you find your friends, then?" asks the Doctor.

"No one even remembers them," Ace replies.

"I'm sure I've forgotten something," says the Doctor.

"Oi, haven't you forgotten something?" asks the shop assistant, coming out of the shop.

"Yes," replies Nita.

"Money," says the shop assistant.

"No, it wasn't that," says the Doctor.

"I got lucky on the fruit machine," says Ace, gesturing to a pile of coins on the table in front of her.

"Lucky?" asks Nita.

"Well, they're all fixed anyway, those machines," Ace says.

The Doctor pays for his cat food, and then the trio move further along Medway Parade. A miserable looking girl is shaking a Hunt Saboteur collecting tin outside the second hand shop.

"Ange!" Ace cries.

"Oh, hi, Ace. I thought you were dead," Ange says.

"What?"

"That's what they said. Either you were dead, or you'd gone to Birmingham." Ange notices the Doctor and Nita. "Who are they?"

"Oh, friends of mine."

"Oh. So you back to see your family?"

"No."

"So what you doing here? You're well out of this dump."

"I just wanted to see my friends, catch up a bit."

"Oh."

"So where is everyone?"

"Who?"

"Jay?"

The Doctor and Nita browse the old books on a trestle outside the shop.

"Dunno. Moved over west someplace. Think he's doing window cleaning, that's what I heard."

"Stevie?"

"Oh, he's gone."

"Where are they all coming from?" the Doctor mumbles to himself.

"Flo?"

"Married Darth."

"Darth Vader, the brain-dead plumber? Flo?"

"Yeah. Makes you think, eh?"

"What about Shreela?"

"Oh, she's gone."

"Midge?"

"He's gone, too."

"Gone? What do you mean, gone?"

"I don't know. Gone. Vanished."

"People don't just vanish."

"You did."

"Yeah, well, that's different."

"Is it?"

"Yeah. So when did they go?"

"Dunno. Last month?"

"What?"

"Well, Midge and Stevie went last month. Shreela went last week. They had to scrape her mum off the ceiling. Funny though, I always thought she got on well with her family."

"This doesn't make sense."

"That's what I said. Know what I reckon?"

"What?"

"UFOs. They whisk 'em off and do experiments on them like we do on animals. I wouldn't fancy cutting Stevie up to see what's inside, would you? Come on, give us ten pence, then."

"Not a very efficient way to hunt, is it?" says the Doctor. "All that noise and pantomime just to slaughter one little animal. No, if you're going to hunt, you stalk your prey. You observe it, so you can take it by surprise, and then you don't kill too many. Cover your tracks, so you don't leave a smell. Can you smell that?"

"Can't," Ange says. "Hay fever."

"What are you talking about, Professor?" Ace asks. "Is something going on here?"

"Not sure."

"Is he?" Ange begins.

"Professor!"

"When is a cat not a cat?" asks the Doctor. "When it builds its own cat flap."

He takes a can of Feline Food from his plastic carry bag. "Bait, Ace. Bait."

"Hang on, Professor!"

Ace and Nita followed the Doctor up Barmouth Avenue, past the sports ground, up to Woodhouse Avenue.

"I can't believe he said that, you know," Ace says, referring to Patterson. "That T.A. twit. I reckon that was well out of order. Ten pence. I mean, even if I could've phoned, which I couldn't really, do you think anyone would've listened to me?"

Nita nodded in understanding. She was in the same position, really.

"Tin opener," says the Doctor.

"It was just that time," Ace says, sitting on a low wall. "Just the whole crowd. We had a really good laugh. I can't believe they've all just disappeared."

The Doctor opens various packets of cat food, including Sheba, and puts them on the pavement.

"Professor?"

"Tin opener."

Nita gets one from her jacket pocket and he opens the tin of Furry.

"Professor?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you listening to me?"

"Quiet, Ace, I'm concentrating."

Ace walks off as he spoons the contents onto the ground and then he and Nita hide behind the nearest garden fence. First on the scene is a tabby.

"No, you're not the one I'm after," says the Doctor.

The lady of the house knocks on the window. "What are you doing?" she mouths through the window.

The Doctor waves at her to be quiet. "Shush. Be quiet," he mouths to her. He turns back to the cat. "Shoo!" The cat runs off.

"I'm going to find Ace," Nita says quietly, heading to the playground at the end of the street. She finds Ace sitting on a slowly moving roundabout with the black cat nearby. She goes over to it, picks it up and sits on one of the swings. The cat hisses and wriggles out of her arms. The wind blows on her back.

"Look out!" Ace cries. Nita turns to see a Cheetah sitting on a rearing horse, but she doesn't run.

"Wow!" gasps Nita.

The Cheetah snarls at her, and then she runs, using the playground slides and other equipment to keep it away from her. Ace tries to create a diversion.

Back on Woodhouse Avenue, the Doctor hears Nita's voice. "Doctor!"

"Nita, Ace!" The Doctor runs out of the garden and down the avenue.

At the playground, Ace and Nita are inside the climbing frame with the Cheetah circling them.

"Doctor!" Nita yells.

They make their break and run for their lives. Flash! and Ace and Nita are at the top of a slope. They run to the bottom and fall amongst bleached bones.

A purple sky hangs over active volcanoes in the distance. Ace and Nita run over to where a group of cats are around the body of Dave the car-washer then the feline horse rider appears on the ridge. The chase is on again.

Ace and Nita are managing to keep ahead of the horse and rider, but finally they fall and the rider dismounts. Then the lad from the Youth Club shouts out.

"Go away! Get away from here! Get away from here!"

The Cheetah chases him instead, and quickly fells him. Ace picks up a rock but the Cheetah runs past her, knocking her down, and mounts its horse again. It puts Stuart over the pommel and leaves. A young Indian woman comes out from the forest edge.

"Ace!"

"Shreela!"

"Ace, you shouldn't have run. They always go for you if you run."

Shreela takes Ace and Nita back to hercamp. A small fire has been lit in a clearing. Two young men in leather jackets are lounging by it.

"Midge!" Ace cries.

"Hi, Ace. Long time."

"Is Stevie here, too?"

"He was," replies Shreela.

"Stevie?" asks Midge. "He's cat food, isn't he?"

"Stop it!" orders Shreela.

"This is Derek. He's doing very well. He's been here three weeks. Only got flesh wounds."

"This is Nita."

"We'll have to move on soon," says Shreela. "They hunt at night sometimes."

"They can see in the dark," Midge says. "You can't see them, just their eyes."

"Just as well I'm here," Ace says. "You need sorting out, you lot!"


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter Two**_

On the Cheetah World, Ace and Nita are watching some black cats scavenging a carcass. Shreela joins them. "They don't bother us. They only eat us when we're dead. It's like they're watching us."

"Yeah," Nita says, shivering.

"Come on, we're not safe in the open," Shreela urges.

"You're telling me," Ace says.

Shreela, Midge and Derek lead Ace and Nita down a forest track.

"Okay, so what do we do?" Ace asked.

"Do?" asks Midge. "We die. Maybe today, maybe next week. We could hurry things up a bit, go and find one of those big pussy cats. That what you want to try?"

"We tried to fight one once," says Shreela. "It caught Stevie."

"She threw sticks at it," Midge says.

"Oh yeah? And where were you, Midge?" accuses Ace.

"You can't hurt them," says Shreela.

"They're invincible," adds Derek.

"Nothing's invincible," Ace challenges.

"That's right, Ace, you tell us. You sort us out," Midge replies, sarcastically.

"Better get back to camp," Shreela urges. "We're not safe in the open air."

"Well, are we any safer back there?" asks Nita. "At least out here in the open you can see them coming."

"They usually don't bother us in there," replies Shreela. "They only hunt in the open, unless they're hungry, then they take us anywhere."

"Why do they only hunt in the open?" asks Nita.

"What do you think this is, The Wonderful World of Wildlife?" Midge scoffs. "Who knows? Why do they always ride through here? Why do they always eat us up without ketchup?"

"They always ride through here?" asks Nita, getting an idea.

"So what?" asks Midge.

"So let's get one," Nita suggests.

"You what?" asks Midge.

"Nothing's invincible," Nita replies. "We've got to fight back!"

Ace and Shreela set up a wire between two trees at head height across the track.

"Come on, Shreela!" Ace urges.

Sheela shushes her. A Cheetah rides up and sees the wire. It unsheathes its claws and cuts it, looks at Ace and rides on.

"Plan B?" asks Shreela.

They arrive back at the camp. Midge inexplicably turns on Derek. "He's going to get us all killed! He's going get us all killed!"

Midge attacks Derek as a twig snaps.

"No!" cries Derek. "Get off me!"

Ace pulls Midge off Derek. "Sit down and shut up!" she commands.

"Listen!" says Shreela.

Horses hooves can be heard approaching. Ace lights a brand from the fire. The horse trips a wire close to the ground and two saplings spring upright. Ace rushes out with the burning brand to discover Paterson on the ground and the Doctor dangling by his ankles from the snare, holding his hat on. The Doctor clears his throat, embarrassed.

"What kept you?" asks Ace.

"How many times have I told you about playing with fire?" asks the Doctor, nodding at the lit brand.

The Earthlings are making their way through the parched desolation. They lie down at the top of a ridge and look down on a group of Cheetahs.

"Got to stick together, lads," Patterson says. "That's the way. Stealth, that's what's needed here. Stealth and surprise. You follow me and I'll get us through this. I'm a hunting animal. I've got instinct for it."

"Oh, do shut up," says the Doctor. "This planet's disintegrating. According to my calculations, the safest place at the moment is over there." He points to a volcano range beyond the Cheetah people.

"Yeah, but what about them?" asks Derek.

"We have to make our way through," replies the Doctor.

"This disintegration, you think we're going to blow up?" asks Patterson.

"Well, it is an old planet, a bit frayed at the edges," replies the Doctor. "We'll be safe over there. Safe from the Cheetahs, and the Master."

"Master? Who's he?" asks Nita.

"An evil genius," replies the Doctor. "One of my oldest and deadliest of enemies."

"Do you know any nice people?" Ace asks. "You know, ordinary people, not power-crazed nutters trying to take over the galaxy?"

"I don't think he's trying to take over the galaxy this time," replies the Doctor.

"So what's all this in aid of?" asks Nita.

"He's got some mind-link," replies the Doctor. "The cats, the kitlings."

"And they find things for the Cheetah People to eat," Ace realises.

"Yeah," confirms the Doctor.

The Doctor leads the group slowly past the basking Cheetahs. One hisses at them and makes Derek jump. "Oh!" cries Derek.

"No sudden movements," Midge warns.

"They won't bother you unless they're hungry," says the Doctor.

"Well, these Cheetahs look hungry," Nita says.

"They're essentially a fun-loving species," says the Doctor, picking up a human skull. "Is it my imagination, or am I getting hot?"

"Doctor, I think we'd better keep moving," Ace suggests.

He puts the skull down. "Yes. Quietly, gently. Just taking a nice little stroll."

They get past and to an area of large skeletons.

"You see? It's all a matter of keeping your head and allowing for the unexpected," says the Doctor.

There is a flash, and the milkman appears on the ridge ahead.

"Oh no!" says the Doctor.

The milkman runs through them, screaming, straight into the Cheetahs. He is pounced on immediately. Ace picks up a stone.

"Don't move!" cries the Doctor.

"What?" Ace asks.

"There's one thing more dangerous than being attacked by a Cheetah, and that is attacking a Cheetah," replies the Doctor. "You do not know what it will do to you!"

"But Doctor…" Ace begins.

"Don't move!" shouts the Doctor.

"I'm not putting up with this," Patterson says. "I'm not standing here and getting eaten alive!"

"Idiot!" yells the Doctor.

"Come on, then!" cries Patterson. "Come and fight!"

Paterson and Midge start throwing rocks at a group of Cheetah people on the other ridge. One rides past Ace and she start to run after it.

"Don't' move!" cries the Doctor.

Two Cheetahs start playing with Derek. "No! No!"

"Come on!" cries Midge.

"Stay still!" shouts the Doctor.

A kitling watches it all from vantage point above the action.

"Help me!" cries Derek.

The Master joins the kitling.

"Don't run!" the Doctor yells. "Stay still!"

"Help me!" Derek shouts. "No!"

Ace shouts at the horse rider. "Get off! Get off! Come on, then!" She throws a rock which hits the Cheetah on the head. It falls off the horse.

"Doctor!" Ace cries.

Shreela grabs one of the Cheetah's playing with Derek from behind, pulling it down. "Get off!" Derek and Shreela run.

"I told you to stay still!" The Doctor is frustrated that no one is listening to him. As usual. But then he notices Nita is still standing next to him. "At least someone listens to me." He shoots her a grateful look.

She shrugs. "Always."

The Doctor trips up a Cheetah with his umbrella. He tries again to stop the others. "Stay still! Don't run!"

"Come on!" cries Paterson. Paterson leads Midge, Shreela and Derek out of the area, with the rider following them.

"Ace? Ace?" calls the Doctor, looking around for her.

Ace has run another way, and is by a lake. A Cheetah rides up to the other side on a black horse, and gets down. Ace ducks down as the Cheetah goes to the water, and collapses, its face in the water. She runs round and pulls it out. The Cheetah's eyes open.

The Doctor and Nita go looking for Ace. They approach some ruins, the remains of stone buildings.

"Ace," sighs the Doctor, sadly. "Oh, Ace."

"We'll find her, Doctor," Nita says, as confidently as she can. She can't imagine losing her best friend.

A kitling meows and the Master appears. "Good hunting, Doctor?"

Two Cheetahs start fighting over which one of them will kill Midge.

"They're fighting again in the dead valley," says the Master, as the ground rumbles.

"It's breaking up," says the Doctor.

"This planet's alive," says the Master. "The animals are part of the planet. When they fight each other, they trigger explosions. They hasten the planet's destruction."

"How long before it blows up?" asks Nita.

"Not long," replies the Master. "They've been fighting a long time."

"Why did you bring me here?" asks the Doctor.

"I need your help," replies the Master.

A Cheetah likes Ace's shiny Soviet WW2 badge.

Elsewhere, the winning Cheetah has left, and Midge pulls a large sabre tooth from a skull then goes over to the loser. He kneels and stabs the tooth into it.

"You're trapped," realises the Doctor. "You can't escape."

"Just so," admits the Master. "It seems the creatures of this world can't take us away from here, they can only bring us to this place."

"Yes. They can only return home with their prey," agrees the Doctor.

"I never thought of it quite that way," says the Master.

"But now that we're both trapped, what good is it to you?" asks the Doctor.

"You'll find a way out, Doctor," says the Master. "You must."

"Why should I help you?" asks the Doctor.

"It's not just death we're all facing," replies the Master. "This place bewitches you. If we stay here, we'll be like the people who built these. They thought they could control the planet, the wilderness. They were the ones that bred the kitlings. Creatures with minds they could talk to, eyes they could see through the way I do. It only led to their corruption. We shall become like them." The Master displays yellow eyes and large canine teeth. "We shall become animals." The kitling howls and the Master joins in.

Elsewhere, Derek collapses, exhausted.

"You all right, lad, eh?" asks Paterson.

"Yeah," Derek replies.

Midge appears, holding the tooth. It has blood on it.

Ace is with the Cheetah at the lakeside.

"I want water," says the Cheetah.

"What?" Ace asks.

"Want water. It will make Karra well very fast."

Ace scoops up some water in her hands. It glows. She brings it back to Karra, who laps it up.

"Ace?" calls the Doctor, approaching with Nita.

"What is it?" Ace asks. "Should we leave it, Doctor?"

"They're extremely dangerous creatures," replies the Doctor. "They could eat you. Or…"

"Or what?" Ace asks.

"Worse," replies the Doctor.

"What's worse?" asks Nita.

"Let's just say they are dangerously attractive," replies the Doctor.

"I think it's the one that chased me, that killed that boy," Ace says.

"It could be useful to us," says the Doctor.

"You mean it could help us get home?" Ace asks.

"They're hunting animals, Ace," replies the Doctor. "We're their prey. They bring their prey home."

"So what?" Ace asks.

"We need an animal whose home is Earth," replies the Doctor.

"Better keep it alive, then," Ace says.

"Ace," says the Doctor, looking at her, sadly.

"What?"

"It could be very dangerous for you," the Doctor warns her.

"Don't worry, Professor. I'm no one's bowl of cat food."

The Master watches from the trees. "Whose home is Earth."

"Right, you just follow the Sarge and I'll get us all through this," Paterson says. "There's nothing I don't know about survival. It's kill or be killed, right? Kill or be killed."

"Kill or be killed," Midge repeats.

"Good lad. You'll come through. We'll come through, if you just follow the Sarge. Are you with me?"

"Yes," Midge replies. Derek says nothing.

"Are you all with me?"

"Yeah!" cries Midge. Derek is still silent.

"Well, you'd better get with me, because if we're going to survive we can't carry shirkers and we can't carry deadwood!"

"No deadwood," Midge repeats, looking at Derek.

At the lakeside, the Master is cutting strips of leather from a carcass as Ace throw stones into the lake. Nita sits on the shore, watching her. Karra begins to recover and growls at the Doctor.

"Where are the others?" asks Nita.

"I don't know," replies the Doctor. "We'll have to find them, and soon."

"It's weird, Doctor," Ace says. "I think I like this place. I like it. I feel like I belong here."

"Connected," says the Doctor.

"I'm a bit scared," Ace says. "It feels exciting."

"What do you feel?" asks Nita.

"Like I could run forever," Ace replies. "I can smell things as clear as pictures."

"Anything else?" asks the Doctor.

"Well, I'm starving, Professor."

Suddenly they hear Derek's voice. "Help!" On the other side of the lake, Midge has attacked Derek. Paterson is trying to pull him off.

"No!" Shreela screams.

"Don't be a fool!" Paterson shouts.

"No! Get off him!" cries Shreela.

"Stop it!" commands Paterson.

"No!" shouts Shreela.

"Help!" Derek screams.

"Leave him alone!" Shreela yells.

"Midge!" cries Patterson.

"Midge!" shouts the Doctor, running over to them.

"He's going to get us all killed less someone sorts him out," defends Midge.

"Sorts him out?" asks the Doctor.

"Yeah!" Midge replies.

"Where did you get this?" asks the Doctor, pointing to the Cheetah People trophy necklace that Midge is wearing around his neck.

"I killed it. I killed it," Midge repeats.

"Now then, son, why don't you just give me the weapon, eh?" Paterson says, soothingly.

Midge walks away.

"Midge!" calls the Doctor. "It's not too late to go home."

"Home?" asks Shreela.

Midge's eyes turn yellow. He hisses, showing his large canine teeth, then runs.

"Come on," says the Doctor. "We'd better follow him."

The kitling watches Midge's route, and the Master sees it too through the telepathic connection. He tests the leather strap he has made.

"This way," says the Doctor, leading the group through the scrub.

The Master gets to Midge first. He pulls the leather strap and Midge falls because his feet are caught in a noose hidden in the sand. The Master then loops the other end of the strap around Midge's throat. The Doctor, Shreela, Nita, Ace and Paterson run up.

"Go hunting," the Master tells Midge. "Go home."

"Midge!" calls the Doctor.

"You see, Doctor, you did help me," says the Master. "You kept these others alive just long enough to serve my purposes."

"Midge, wait," pleads the Doctor.

"Don't worry, one of these others will become a Cheetah animal before you," says the Master. "You can escape in your turn. Or are you too squeamish?Only the animals of this place can leave, Doctor, because they carry it with them."

"Midge, listen to me," the Doctor continues to plead.

"He doesn't remember his name," says the Master. He turns to Midge. "Go home."

Midge turns and takes a step. Flash! and Midge and the Master have vanished.

"So there is a way out," says Shreela.

"A way out?" asks the Doctor. "Yes. We wait for one of us to change and then we use them, before they try to escape or kill us all."

"Well, there's no telling who'll be next, is there?" asks Paterson. "Just get a grip and…" He notices Derek staring at him. "What are you looking at? It's him, isn't it? He's the one! You stay away from me!"

"Look!" cries Shreela.

Karra has arrived on her horse.

"Oh, yeah. She's better. Doctor, look!" says Ace.

When Ace turns back to the Doctor, her eyes are yellow.

It sends shivers up Nita's spine. What is happening to her best friend?


	3. Chapter 3

**_Chapter Three_**

The Doctor, Nita, Ace, Shreela, Derek and Paterson are by the lakeside. Karra approaches on horseback and dismounts. "Come hunting, sister," she says to Ace.

"Wait," says the Doctor.

"Come hunting," Karra repeats.

 __"No!" cries Nita, grabbing Ace's arm.

Ace shrugs her off and runs off with Karra, laughing.

"Ace!" cries Shreela. "It's happened. It's happened to her. She's changing."

 __"Yes," agrees the Doctor.

 __"Who's next, eh?" asks Paterson. "Who's next? If I had a gun…"

"We'd be in even more trouble than we are already!" interrupts the Doctor. "Right, stay here. I'll follow her."

"Just a minute," objects Paterson.

"I can leave you in charge, can't I, Sergeant?"

"Yeah, sure."

"But what if more Cheetahs come?" asks Shreela.

"Stay still and try not to look like a hamburger," replies the Doctor. "Don't look so glum. It could be worse. It could be Perivale."

The Doctor head off after Ace and Nita follows him. They see Ace and Karra by a pond. Karra is drinking.

"I thought cats hated water," Ace says.

"I'm not a cat," Karra replies. "I'm Karra. I'm your sister."

"No, you're not. Why do you keep calling me that?"

"You're like me."

"Yeah?"

"You will be."

"This is good. I like feeling like this." Ace sees her yellow eyes reflected in the water. "Where's the Doctor? I've got to get back to the Doctor."

"Are you hungry? The chase."

"What?"

"The hunt. Smell the blood on the wind. Hear the blood in your ears. Run, run beyond the horizon and catch your hunger!" Karra howls and two horses come to them. "Are you hungry, sister? Come hunting."

They take off on horseback. The Doctor and Nita run after them but can't keep up and have to stop.

"Oh, Ace, you're running, but what are you running towards?" asks the Doctor. He is using the lid of his pocket watch as a sort of detector on a set of tracks.

"Ace, how far have you gone?" asks Nita. "Can you come back?"

A Cheetah is feeding nearby.

The Doctor and Nita trace Ace and Karra to an old kill. Karra has led Ace to a partly eaten corpse. "Good hunting. Good."

"You kill people," Ace realises. "You eat people."

"When I'm hungry, I hunt. When I hunt, I eat."

"Would you eat me?"

"There is meat here."

"Yeah, but if there wasn't, would you kill me?"

"How fast can you run, sister?"

"Fast enough."

"Ah, that would be a good hunt. Are you hungry? Come and eat."

Ace dismounts and starts towards the corpse when the Doctor and Nita arrive.

"Ace! Ace, come back. Come home. Come home," soothes the Doctor.

Ace runs to the Doctor, her eyes human again.

"Good hunting, sister," Karra says.

"What's happening to me, Doctor?" Ace asks.

"It's all right, Ace. We're going home."

The Doctor, Nita and Ace return to Paterson, Shreela and Derek.

"Ace, listen to me," says the Doctor. "You're possessed. It's the planet, the Cheetah people. You've changed."

"Yes," Ace agrees.

"You're powerful, dangerous," adds Nita.

"Yes," Ace repeats.

"You can do what they do," advises the Doctor. "You can carry your prey home. You can help us escape."

"Yes?" Ace agrees, uncertainly.

"But if you do that, you may never change back," Nita warns. "You'll become like the Cheetah people forever."

"What shall I do? Tell me, Doctor. I trust you."

"The choice is yours," exhorts the Doctor.

Ace looks back for a moment, then offers the Doctor her hand. He takes it.

"We're going home!" asserts Nita.

All six link hands and then Flash! They arrive next to the TARDIS on Bleasdale Avenue.

"I did it. I got us back!" Ace concludes. "I'm all right now, aren't I?"

"Yes, Ace," agrees the Doctor.

"Perivale," says Shreela. "We're back. I've got to get home!" Shreela hugs Ace, then leaves.

Paterson notices Derek is still holding his hand. "What's your game, then?" Paterson lets go of Derek's hand. "So, I had a blackout. It's perfectly normal. Stress, overwork, that's all. I've had medicals. You should've got a doctor to me, though. That's the least you could've done, instead of keeping me lying about in the street. You're a doctor, right? You should know better."

"Thanks, Ace. Thanks, Doctor. Thanks Nita. Thanks for saving my life, getting me back home," Ace says, sarcastically.

"I don't know what you mean," Paterson accuses. "What are you talking about?"

"Thanks, Ace. Thanks, Doctor. Thanks Nita. Thanks for saving my life and getting me back home!" Derek mimics. Derek runs off, laughing.

"I'm late for self-defence," Paterson says.

"Looks like everything's back to normal, then," Ace reasons. "Well, come on, Professor. What are we hanging about for?"

"Unfinished business," replies the Doctor.

"What?" asks Nita.

"The Master."

"Oh, he's not still around here, is he?" Ace asks. "Dump of the universe."

"It was you…"

"Yeah, yeah, who wanted to come home, I know. Listen, this is the only home I've got now, right?" Ace puts her hand on the TARDIS.

"No, it was you who brought us here, home," corrects the Doctor. "Therefore, Midge must have. Where does Midge live?"

"Who?" Ace asks, confused.

"Midge!" Nita repeated.

"Oh, I don't know," Ace says, vaguely. "He used to live in some flats over there somewhere."

"Come on!" the Doctor urges, running off. Nita runs after him. They are watched by a kitling.

 _  
_"Ace!" called the Doctor, over his shoulder.

They enter Midge's flat. Ace looks at the cover of an LP while the Doctor looks at a photograph of Midge on the mantlepiece. It is U2's War - the one with the young boy on the cover. "Are they still on the go, then?" Ace asks. "They were practically drawing their pensions when I was clubbing it."

The Doctor spots the bloody corpse of a cat by the sofa, then they hear a little girl crying. She is hiding behind the kitchen cabinets.

"What's up, Squeak?" Ace asks.

"My cat."

"What happened?" asks Nita, kneeling down next to the little girl.

"The bad cat killed it. The bad cat the man brought."

"What man?" asks the Doctor. "Which way did he go? Show me!"

Squeak leads the Doctor and the girls outside the flat and points down the street. "Over there. Midge and the bad cat man. Midge went away and then he came back. He's my big brother. He's got funny eyes now."

"Where's your mum, Squeak?" Ace asks.

"She saw the bad cat man," replies Squeak. _"_ He made her go away!"

"What's he doing it for?" asks Nita, frustrated with the Master. "Why? He's escaped, hasn't he? He doesn't need to keep the Cheetahs busy. He's safe! What's he still doing it for?"

"Malice" replies the Doctor.

"Her gran's the next floor up. I'll take her," Ace says, heading towards the stairs with Squeak. She stopped and turned to the Doctor and Nita. "It's not just malice."

"Survival. Huh," muses the Doctor. "It's what he lives for. He must hope, believe, he can find something."

"What?" asks Nita.

"To destroy me," accentuates the Doctor.

"You'd wipe the floor with him!" cries Nita, indignantly.

"Yes, well, we are an explosive combination," acknowledges the Doctor. "One day, one of us might blot the other one out."

A cat yowls nearby.

"If only I could track him down, take him by surprise before he's ready," complains the Doctor.

Ace, who is still standing at the bottom of the stairs, sinks to her knees and her eyes turn yellow. Squeak is frightened.

"Bad cat man," says Squeak, trembling.

"I see the Master," explains Ace, eerily. "He's at the youth club."

She stands up, eyes normal.

"He's at the youth club. I know he is!"

After taking Squeak up to her Nan's, the Doctor, Nita and Ace run to the Gym. The place is deserted except for Paterson, lying on the floor.

The Doctor checks Paterson's vital signs, and shakes his head. "So much for the SAS survival course."

Ace stiffens and gets her yellow eyes back.

"Where?" asks the Doctor.

"Horsenden Hill," Ace announces.

The trio make their way to the hill. A new motorbike is waiting there.

"He's chosen the time, the place, and the means," asserts the Doctor.

"The trails stops here," analyses Ace.

"Ace," says the Doctor, soothingly.

Her eyes turn brown again.

"That's better," applauds the Doctor, relieved.

"Did I go again?" Ace begins to panic. "I don't even feel it! I don't even feel myself go. Doctor, will I stay like this?"

Midge comes up the hill on a bike, accompanied by the boys from the gym.

"Stay out of this, Ace!" the Doctor warns, knowing how easily she jumps to defend him.

The Master arrives last of all.

"You are my hunting dog," the Master says to Midge. "The teeth for my trap, the teeth to destroy."

The Master gives Midge the sabre tooth he used to kill the Cheetah. Ace's eyes turn yellow and she gets on the bike.

"Ace!" cries the Doctor. "Listen to me. Listen to me!"

The Doctor pulls her off the bike. "If you fight, you'll change, you'll change completely forever!" The Doctor leaps on the bike and starts it up. The motorised joust begins.

"No!" Ace and Nita cry.

The two bikes crash and there is a big fireball.

"No," Nita whispers. Is the Doctor hurt? Is he dead? She can't imagine her life without the Doctor in it. She is in her own time. If the Doctor died, she would be able to get home to her family. But she doesn't want that. She wants the Doctor.

Midge is thrown clear, but burnt.

"Survival of the fittest," appraises the Master. "The weak must be eliminated so that the healthy can flourish. You know what to do, Midge."

Midge collapses.

"Good boy," assesses the Master.

Ace and Nita run over and Nita picks up the Doctor's hat. The boys advance on them.

"I must not fight. I must not fight," Ace chants. "Help me! Help me! Won't somebody help me?"

Nita feels useless. She doesn't know how to help Ace, and all she can think about is, "what happened to the Doctor?" Flash! and Karra appears on her horse. The boys stop, uncertain.

"The chase," Karra says to Ace. "To hunt in the morning and live till evening. Run out of the light, and slip into the dark. Smell the blood on the wind. Hear your blood in your ears. Die at last, with your enemy's blood in your mouth. With your enemy's blood in your mouth!"

Karra charges at the boys, who scatter and run for their lives. She circles Midge's body then stops in front of the Master.

"Get off the horse," commands the Master.

Karra dismounts.

"You have no power here," the Master says to Karra. "This is not your place. I command here. I command you. You've no power over me. I can do anything I wish with you and you can do nothing, nothing, to me."

"Do you bleed?" asks Karra. "I can always do something to you if you bleed."

Karra pounces on the Master, who stabs her with the sabre tooth he took from Midge.

"Karra!" Ace screams.

The Master chuckles and leaves. Part way down the slope he sees the Doctor's legs sticking out of a pile of fly-tipped rubbish including an easy chair and some bin bags. He carries on and the Doctor extricates himself.

"Oh, very good. Very amusing," says the Doctor, sarcastically. He sets off to follow the Master.

"Karra!" Ace cries and runs to her Cheetah friend, who has turned into a human woman.

"I can hunt in the dark," Karra says, weakly.

"I'll get you something," Ace says, frantically. "I'll make you well again."

"I can run into the dark," Karra whispers. "Run forever."

"Just wait," Ace urges. "I'll get you something."

"Good hunting, sister," Karra whispers on her dying breath.

"Good hunting," Ace whispers.

Nita comes over and hugs Ace.

The Doctor has followed the Master to Bleasdale Avenue. The Master is trying to pick the lock of the TARDIS.

"Good hunting," says the Doctor.

"Yes. It would have been too easy," replies the Master. "It seems we must always meet again."

"They do say opposites attract," says the Doctor.

"But this is the end, Doctor. You see it. It's a power. A power from that planet. It's growing within me. Are you frightened yet?"

"No."

"You should be. You should be. It nearly beat me. Such a simple, brutal power. Just the power of tooth and claw. It nearly destroyed me, a Time Lord. But I won. I control that force, Doctor. And now, at last, I have the power to destroy you."

The Master grabs the Doctor by the throat. Flash! They are back at the Cheetah camp. Fires are burning all around. The Master raises a long bone to use as a club.

"Welcome to my new home, Doctor!" attacks the Master.

The Doctor is surprisingly strong. He forces the Master down on to his back and grabs a skull. The Doctor's eyes are yellow when he raises it to smash down on the Master, then he sees the Cheetah people disappear.

"They've gone," considers the Doctor. "What am I doing? I've got to stop. We've got to go."

"You can't go," contradicts the Master. "Not this time."

"Yes, we can!"

"Escape to what?" critiques the Master. "I don't choose to live as an animal."

"If we fight, we'll destroy this planet," says the Doctor. "We'll destroy ourselves!"

The Master grabs the Doctor's throat again.

"You should have killed me, Doctor."

"If we fight like animals, we'll die like animals!"

The Master brings down a long bone to hit the Doctor. Flash! They are back on Bleasdale Avenue.

"If we fight like animals, we'll die like animals!" repeats the Doctor.

Then he realises where he is, and stands up.

"Home," the Doctor whispers.

A young blonde woman in a green jacket comes over. "Did you hear that racket? Did you hear it? Flipping cat fights all hours of the day."

"I think you'll find things quieting down now," says the Doctor.

"So you say," says the blonde. "Flipping cats. It's the owners I blame. They want the pet, right? They want the animal, but do they keep it under control?"

"Well, we try."

"So you say."

On Horsenden Hill, Ace is weeping over Karra when another Cheetah on a horse flashes in. She and Nita run. The Cheetah rides over to Midge and Karra and Flash! they have gone. Nita puts the Doctor's hat on and kneels down, shedding tears for the Doctor.

"Mine, I believe," came the Doctor's voice, above her.

He takes back his hat and umbrella.

"Thank you," he says.

"Where have they gone?" Ace asks.

"They've been taken back to the wilderness," replies the Doctor. "The place is different but the hunt goes on. You know all about the hunt, don't you, Ace?"

"I felt like I could run forever," Ace replies. Like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet and just run forever."

"The planet's gone, but lives on inside you," says the Doctor. "It always will."

"Good," Ace says. "And the Master?"

"Who knows?" replies the Doctor. "Where to now, girls?"

"Home," replies Nita.

"Home?" asks the Doctor, a bit worried that Nita has had enough.

"The TARDIS," clarifies Nita.

"Yes, the TARDIS," repeats Ace.

"The TARDIS it is," says the Doctor, relieved.

The Doctor, Nita and Ace walk off arm in arm down Horsenden Hill.

"There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, where the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream," says the Doctor. "People made of smoke, and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, girls, we've got work to do!"

 **A/N Just an epilogue to go.**


	4. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

The Doctor, Nita and Ace arrive back at the TARDIS on Bleasdale Avenue. The Doctor unlocks the door and the trio step inside.

"Tea?" he suggests.

"Yes, please!" Ace and Nita sing in unison.

They make their way to the kitchen and the Doctor begins to make them some tea. Ace and Nita sit down at the table. After the tea is made, the Doctor joins them with their mugs. He observes Nita chewing on her thumbnail, and staring into space.

"What's up, Nita?" he finally asks.

Nita starts. She didn't even notice the Doctor sitting down at the table. She takes a deep breath and looks the Doctor in the eye.

"You know how, earlier, when you asked where we wanted to go, and I said 'home', and then clarified that by saying 'the TARDIS'?" begins Nita.

"Yes," replies the Doctor, starting to feel worried.

"Well, I was thinking," continues Nita. "I've been travelling with you for two years now. I think it's about time I went home to see my family."

"Oh," the Doctor says, looking glumly into his cup of tea.

"Just for a visit," Nita clarifies quickly. "Not to stay!"

"Oh, yes, of course," replies the Doctor, relieved that Nita didn't want to leave for good.

"And I'm sure my family want to meet you and Ace," continues Nita.

"Ah…well…I'm not so good with families," the Doctor says, sheepishly.

"Neither am I, actually," puts in Ace.

"Well, they'll want to see who I've been running around the universe with," Nita insists firmly. "I want to introduce you to them."

"Oh, very well," grumbles the Doctor. "If it will make you happy."

"Ok, I suppose I can do it," sighs Ace.

"Excellent! Let's get some sleep and go in the morning," suggests Nita.

"No such thing as morning on the TARDIS," the Doctor reminds her.

"Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean," says Nita, getting up and taking her cup to the sink and washing it out. "Well I'm going to bed. The excitement of the Cheetah planet wore me out. Good night." She moves to the doorway.

"Night!" calls Ace.

"Good night, dear," says the Doctor.

The next "morning", after breakfast, the three of them assemble in the console room. Nita is very nervous about seeing her family again after two years. About a year ago, the last time that they were on Earth in her time, she had written them a letter from England, detailing what they had been doing. The Doctor had warned her that because she had sent that letter, he could not return her to the same time that she had left, as he had planned. She didn't think that was a problem, because she had left notes for her family and friends, explaining where she had gone.

Now Nita is actually going to see them again. How would they react to seeing her? Would her mother fuss, plead with her not to go again? Most likely. Would her grandfather be angry with the Doctor for taking her away? Probably. The question is, would she have the courage to leave them again? She hopes so. She really does not want to stop travelling with the Doctor.

The Doctor sets the co-ordinates for Brisbane, Australia, and pulls the dematerialisation lever.

"Hopefully this will go smoothly," he says. "The TARDIS doesn't really like short hops like this."

The time-rotor barely starts moving before it stops again. The Doctor looks at the read-out on the console. "There you are, Coopers Plains, 7th of December, 1989," he says, pulling the lever to open the door.

As the door opens, they hear a dog barking madly outside. "That'll be Manny," says Nita.

"Manny?" Ace scrunches her nose at the name.

"Short for Mandrake," Nita explains. "My cousin named him, and he was mad on Mandrake the Magician comics at the time."

"Right," says Ace, shaking her head. "Well, off you go and see your family."

"Aren't you coming?" asks Nita.

"Yeah, yeah, lead the way," replies Ace.

The Doctor and Ace follow Nita out of the TARDIS. They are in Nita's back yard, and Manny throws himself at Nita in excitement. Nita is surprised he remembers her after two years. She hears the back door of the house open, and braces herself for her mother's reaction to her arrival. As her mother walks around the corner to see what Manny is barking about, she suddenly stops on catching sight of the trio in front of the TARDIS and her mouth opens in shock.

"Nita! You're home!" she cries, running towards Nita. Nita meets her in the middle and hugs her. Manny is still barking and growling a little at the Doctor, although he seems quite happy with Ace, who is scratching his head.

"Manny, stop it!" Nita scolds him. He quiets. "Mum, this is the Doctor and Ace."

"It's an honour to meet you Mrs Llewcots," says the Doctor bowing to her.

"Hi!" says Ace, waving awkwardly.

They hear the screen door open and close again, and then Nita's grandfather comes around the corner. He stops dead in his tracks and stares at them in disbelief. "Stone the bloody crows!" he cries.

"Hello Grandad!" Nita cries, running over to give him a hug, which he joyously returns. "This is the Doctor and Ace."

"Pleased to meet you, sir," the Doctor steps forward with his hand outstretched.

Grandad just stands there staring at him, making no move to shake his hand. "You've got a nerve showing your face here after running off with my grand-daughter!" he says angrily.

"I went willingly, Grandad!" Nita defends. Oh dear, this is not going well.

"How could you do that to us?" he addresses Nita. "We were worried sick! Had the police looking for you and all!"

"But I left a note for you, telling you where I'd gone!" Nita cries.

"Oh, do you really think we'd be satisfied with that?" asks Mum, incredulously. "'I've gone travelling around the universe with my friend the Doctor in his space-ship'?" she quotes. "Like I'm going to believe that! And then, no word for a whole year! Of course we're going to think you're dead!"

Nita sighs. "I'm sorry, Mum. I had intended to come back on the same day that I had left, so you wouldn't even notice I'd been gone. But then I stupidly sent that letter to you a year ago, which meant I couldn't go back to that day."

"But nothing since?" asks Mum, in an agonized voice. "For all I knew, you could have been killed wherever you were on your travels, and I'd never know."

"Well, we haven't been back on Earth in this time since then, so I had no way of contacting you," Nita defends. "Look, can we go inside and have a cup of tea or something? And then we can talk about this calmly."

"All right, come on," Mum concedes.

They all go upstairs into the kitchen. Grandad goes to tell Grandma, who is sick in bed, that Nita has returned. She is very excited and Nita goes into her room and hugs her. Nita tells Grandma that the Doctor and Ace would like to meet her, so Grandma agrees to get out of bed and have a cup of tea in the kitchen with them.

As Grandad helps Grandma to get out of bed, Mum makes the tea and the Doctor, Nita and Ace sit at the table.

"You know, your grandmother is quite sick," says Mum. "It would be a shame if she died while you are away. Couldn't you stay home for a while and spend some time with her?"

Nita looks at the Doctor uneasily. She had been afraid that something like this would happen. "I understand how you feel, Mum. And it would be sad if that happened. But I don't want to stop living my life, just in case something happens."

"She makes a good point, though, Nita," the Doctor pipes up. "It would be useful if your family were able to contact you, should your grandmother take a turn for the worst. I might be able to come up with something. I'll have a think about it."

Grandad brings Grandma out to the kitchen in her wheelchair, and the group manages to enjoy pleasant conversation, without anyone getting angry about Nita going away again. The family catches Nita up on all the news. Aunt Desley got married. Cousin Shelley is engaged. Cousin Malcolm has a girlfriend. Nita's old boyfriend, Mal, still comes around looking for her, in case she had returned. Nita feels a bit guilty about that. She had hoped he would have moved on by now.

Nita then brings the family up-to-date with what she and the Doctor and Ace had been getting up to, purposefully leaving out any frightening parts. She tells them about the Psychic Circus on the planet Segonax where the three Gods of Ragnarok force visitors to put on acts for their amusement. She fails to mention that those that fail to entertain the family are annihilated!

She then tells them about Morgaine, a sorceress from another dimension, who summoned the planet-devouring Destroyer in England, where she also sought to take the sword Excalibur for herself.

"Are you saying that the legend of Excalibur is real?" asks Grandma.

"Oh, yes," replies the Doctor. "Most legends are based on truth."

Then Nita talks about their excursion to a mansion house in Perivale in 1883, where Josiah Smith, a cataloguer of life forms who comes from another planet, sought to assassinate Queen Victoria and take over the British Empire.

"I think you've gone troppo," says Grandad. "Do you really expect us to believe all that?"

"I know it sounds far-fetched, but it's true," replies Nita. "Why don't we show you the TARDIS, then you'll find it easier to believe."

After showing her family is shown inside the TARDIS, they are more inclined to believe her stories. Of course, her mother pleads with her to stay. The Doctor is rummaging in a box under the console. "Ah! Here it is!" he exclaims. He is holding a small device.

"What's that?" asks Nita.

"This is a mobile telephone from the 21st century," the Doctor explains. "Now, if I perform some jiggery-pokery…" He inserts the device into a slot on the TARDIS console, and there is a flash and a beep. The Doctor picks it up and turns it on. "There! A super-phone!" He hands the telephone to Nita's mother. "Whenever you want to contact Nita, press this button," he indicates a button at the bottom of the phone. "Tap the telephone icon, and tap Nita's name. This is gives you a direct line to the TARDIS. And I've super-charged it, so the battery will never go flat."

"Oh, thank you so much!" Mum says, hugging him. "But don't stay away so long next time, please!"

"I promise I'll try to get her home more often," the Doctor assures her.

They say their goodbyes, and Nita's family leave the TARDIS. The Doctor sends them into the vortex.

"Well, that wasn't so bad," says Nita, relieved.

"I'm glad you didn't stay behind," says Ace, clapping her on the shoulder.

"So am I," the Doctor says, giving her hand a squeeze. "Right! Where to now? Future, Past or Present?"

"The future!" Ace and Nita say in unison. They look at each other and giggle.

"To the future it is!" announces the Doctor, pulling levers with a flourish.


End file.
